End of month update: July

Can't believe it is the end of July already. Well, it hasn't been the best of months but it hasn't been the worst either.

I completed these challenges this month:
-2 alien movies in 24 hours
-Cooking with couscous
-Moroccan dinner
-Referendum voting
-Camping (okay this one failed)
-Manicure
-Chilli cheese dog
-Poutine
-Aldergrove lake

I would have liked to complete a few more challenges this month but time has a way of moving so quickly, it passed me by.

There were several challenges I enjoyed this month: cooking with foods I wouldn't normally cook with, and trying foods I wasn't a fan of. However, at least I know now more about what my likes and dislikes are.

Thanks for reading
Lynn

Aldergrove Lake

I haven't been to Aldergrove Lake for at least 15 years. When I visited there then, I thought the lake was a bit of a puddle. However it offered some outdoor recreation in Langley.

Today I went there for a walk. Partly to remember a bit of my youth and because I hadn't been in there in so long, it was like visiting there for the first time all over again.

What an interesting park. There is a parking lot at the top of the hill that is rather small. So I parked there and walked down the road. It was a bit eerie being the only one there. The sound of the leaves rustling and the sound of the air cannons in the distance as they fought off the birds was a bit eerie. Mind you, I may have been a bit jumpy. It was nice to be the only one there in that I was not rushed.

Just before the lake, there was a lovely picnic area:

It would be nice to come here for a picnic one evening. Across from the picnic area was a nice bridge:

I stopped for a while to listen to the creek. It was very peaceful. As I made my way to the lake area I took a picture:

There is no longer a lake in Aldergrove! They covered it up. Judging from my memories of it being a puddle so long ago, it was probably a good idea that this was done. I think the park is a bit nicer now because of it. I plan on visiting the park again very soon.

Thanks for reading

Lynn

Poutine

I didn't have the healthiest dinner tonight. However, I got to try something I have never eaten before: Poutine.

It's fries, cheese curds and gravy. Heart attack on a fork.

I was not the biggest fan of this one. Luckily I got to share this dish. The cheese did not get goopy as I thought. It actually cooled the fries down. As the whole dish cooled, it got rather mushy. I don't like mush.

I won't be doing this again.

Thanks for reading

Lynn

Chilli Cheese Hot Dog

Okay, I have to admit I've never had chilli on a hot dog.
After visiting the local fair today, it felt like a day to eat fair food for dinner as well.

It was a lot of meat. I'm not used to eating this type of food. During the summer I tend to eat lighter fare.

However, it was rather good. I don't think I'll be ordering it again. It was just too much.

Thanks for reading

Lynn

Manicure

My girlfriend bought an introductory pass to a spa for us both to try together. Today was our first "treatment". We both had manicures.

This is the first time I had ever been to a spa, or had my hands touched by someone other than my husband or myself. I am finding the older I get the less and less I like to be touched by other people.

However, I must say that despite running late for the appointment, the lady took her time with each of us.

My cuticles needed to be cleaned up which hurt a bit with the tool. Then she smoothed out each nail with another tool which was a bit uncomfortable as well. There were three coats of nail polish applied to each finger nail the bottom coat, the polish and then the top coat.

Plus there was a hand/arm massage as well. I was really uncomfortable with this part. I can put the moisturizer on all by myself, and I don't need to rub that hard to get it absorbed in.

So, I relished the experience of today. However, I'm truly very grateful my friend was there. I wouldn't have done that by myself. I am also grateful she'll be there for the next few visits. I am like a fish out of water. This is something that is totally new to me.

Thanks for reading

Lynn

Challenge failed: Camping

As part of an ongoing effort this year to go camping with family, the earlier camping attempt I blogged about in May had to be rescheduled for this weekend.

So my husband and I got everything ready to go and left yesterday, without my family member who wanted to plan this trip in the first place.

So we arrive, start setting up, and everything seemed to be going rather well. The tent got set up rather quickly, the air mattress was being inflated, everything seemed to be okay.

The mosquitos were a bit bad, but we were so busy I didn't have time to notice.

Then the trouble hit. The air mattress pump was not working properly and we would have no air mattress for the night. My husband then looked at me and realized that I had been practically eaten alive by the mosquitos! You can tell where I had been bitten because I am allergic and my hands were all swollen as was my face. My husband then looked at my back. I had bites all down my back, including my backside! The mosquitos had bitten through my jeans! I had packed some mosquito coils with me, so we lit one and I tried to sit at the picnic table to see if it made a difference. It didn't!

Because I couldn't have handled three days of this allergic reaction, we decided that this just wasn't our trip to take. We packed up and started heading home. Enough was enough.

Just as we were leaving, I took a trip down a path to the washroom. That was where I saw the most terrifying thing I have seen in a long while: a snake!! It was long and made this hissing sound and was right near where I would have to walk. I screamed the whole way back down the path until I found my husband again. I showed him where it was and apparently it was a "red racer" garder snake that wasn't poisonous at all. Needless to say, I wasn't going back down that path again!

I will have to say that despite this blunder of a trip, my sister in law and my nieces and nephews came to spend the day with us. We returned back to the site to have a quick lunch (quick in that the mosquitos pretty much took over our lunch) and then headed down to the lake for some swimming and sandcastles.

I am okay with admitting I am a whimp here. I am not out here to challenge myself medically to see how much I can physically take. I know what those limits are already and I don't want to go there.

Thanks for reading

Lynn

Referendum Voting

The area I live in is currently holding a referendum on taxes. The ballot can be filled out at home and mailed. I have never had the option of mailing in my ballot before. So today I filled and sent my ballot away.

I'm not going to tell how I voted. That's not the point of my blog. I know voting should not be a challenge where I live. However, some people just can't be bothered to submit their ballot. However, I know my ballot will be counted because I actually took the time to submit it.

Thank-you for reading

Lynn

Moroccan Dinner

I am trying to try and eat new foods every month as part of my new years resolution. I have always wanted to cook with a tagine.

However, due to simple economics, I unable to purchase one at this time. Instead, I found a few recipes that are moroccan and decided to go with them instead.

The first was a moroccan bean salad. Here is the recipe (off of the kraft foods website)

Ingredients:

 

1/3 cup Kraft Creamy Cucumber Dressing

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cans (19 fl oz / 540 mL) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

 

Directions:

COMBINE dressing, cumin and cinnamon in small bowl.
ADD chickpeas and raisins; toss to coat.
SPRINKLE with almonds. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavours to blend

I let it sit for almost 24 hours. When I pulled it out, there was no dressing on the beans. So I re-mixed the dressing and added it again. That perked it up a bit. However, I'm not a fan of this salad. It's kind of bland, and I don't like the flavour combination, what there is of it. However, my husband preferred the salad to the main dish. Go figure.

The main dish tonight was called Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine. Here is the recipe (again off the kraftfoods website)

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (1/2 lb./225 g)

1 small red onion, chopped

1 tsp. oil

1 tsp. grated gingerroot

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup canned no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed

1 zucchini, sliced

3 Tbsp. Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Fig Balsamic Dressing

2/3 cup whole wheat couscous, uncooked

 

Directions

COOK chicken and onions in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 5 min., turning chicken and stirring onions after 3 min. Add next 3 ingredients; cook and stir 1 min.
STIR in all remaining ingredients except couscous; bring just to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 25 min. or until chicken is done (170ºF). Meanwhile, cook couscous as directed on package.
SERVE chicken mixture spooned over couscous.

As an extra special treat, I put chopped cilantro on top of each dish as I served it, cooked the chicken with a handful of raisins and 3 cut up apricots.
I preferred this dish. I like the couscous and the chicken. I thought the flavours worked better.
That being said, I have a lot of the leftovers and don't think I'll make these dishes again. They were good, just not as good as to add them to my regular rotation.

Thank-you for reading

Lynn

Cooking with couscous

I have a potluck to attend this weekend. Because it's now summer, I decided to try and make a couscous salad.

I remember having a couscous salad made by my great aunt when I was younger and really liking it. My stepmother also used to make a curry couscous dish that I enjoyed. However, I have never made couscous myself.

Here is the recipe I used:

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

Ingredients

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup couscous, uncooked

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small cucumber, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup pitted black olives

1/3 cup thinly sliced red onions

1/2 cup Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing, divided

3 cups torn romaine lettuce

 

Directions:

 

BRING broth to boil in medium saucepan. Add couscous; cover and remove from heat. Let stand 5 min.
MEANWHILE, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and onions in large bowl. Add 6 Tbsp. of the dressing; toss to coat. Set aside. Fluff couscous with fork; stir in remaining 2 Tbsp. dressing.
COVER serving platter with lettuce; top with couscous and vegetable mixture

This is off of the kraftfoods.ca website.

While making this recipe I also added yellow pepper chunks with the tomato mixture. The couscous was so easy to cook with. The salad dressing added a nice touch as well.

I can't believe how nutty couscous tastes! I will have to start adding this into my regular diet more.

Thank-you for reading

Lynn

2 alien movies in less than 24 hours

Now that it's officially "summer" bring on the box office movies. My husband and I aren't huge movie fans. I used to be but that was a much different life.

So it's quite a feat that I have seen 2 movies about similar things within 24 hours. I'm not going to tell you which ones. However, I will say that the scariest movie by far was last night. My husband and I went with some of his buddies. Thankfully I got to sit next to him and bury my face in his sleeve when I was too freaked out.

I would recommend both of the movies I saw, but if you're like me and get scared easy, I would space them out a bit more than I did.

Thanks for reading

Lynn